Timeline of trends in music (1930-1939)
|
|
| Contents |
1930 in music
- Music of the Bahamas
- A sponge disease decimates the sponge fishing industry in the Bahamas, beginning the decline of ant'ems, a type of work song
- Music of Cuba
- The rumba's popularity begins to spread in Cuba and abroad, while Arsenio Rodriguez develops the conjunto band, using the septeto as a basis and Don Aspiazu's Havana Orchestra brings "El Manicero" to the US, where it becomes a major hit; these changes signal the roots of salsa
- The orquestra tipica dies out
- Music of the Dominican Republic
- Dominican Rafael Trujillo uses several merengue bands for his presidential campaign, which brings the sound to new areas and inspires merengue radio stations to begin broadcasting
- Music of Indonesia
- The developing film industry incorporates kroncong, helping to popularize it
- Music of Mexico
- The Golden Age of Corridos ends, while the accordion begins to become standard due to its use by Narciso Martínez and Santiago Jimenez
- Music of Norway
- Composers like David Monrad Johansen, Geirr Tveitt, Bjarne Brustad, Eivind Groven, Klaus Egge, Ludvig Irgens Jensen, Harald Sæverud begin to develop a nationalist form of Norwegian classical music
- Music of the United States
- Led by musicians like Sol Hoopii, Hawaiian steel guitar folk music's popularity in the United States becomes widespread, influencing country music, the country blues and other genres
1931 in music
- International trends
- EMI opens Abbey Road Studios, the world's largest recording studio
- Adolph Rickenbacker invents the electric guitar
- Music of India
- Music of Mexico
- As rural Mexicans begin moving into the cities, trumpets are added to traditional mariachi bands, and the music develops a more pronounced nationalist bent; Silvestre Vargas soon becomes the most popular mariachi performer
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The formation of the Clarsach Society starts a renaissance in the Scottish harp
- Music of the United States
- Gene Autry's "Silver Haired Daddy of Mine" popularizes honky tonk music
- Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington have begun recording swing
1932 in music
- International trends
- A pan-Arab conference of musicians meets in Cairo, the International Congress of Arabic Music, agreeing to cooperate in revitalizing regional Arab styles of music
- Music of Greece
- Márkos Vamvakáris begins his career playing a style of Greek folk music called rembetika
- Music of Tanzania
- Young people, enamored of Cuban rumba, form dance clubs, such as the Dar Es Salaam Jazz Band
- Music of Thailand
- Western music, especially jazz, is extremely popular
- Music of the United States
- Folklorists John and Alan Lomax begin their series of influential folk music recordings for the Library of Congress; most importantly, they record Woody Guthrie
- Thomas Dorsey's "Precious Lord" revolutionizes gospel music and founds a Chicago-based scene for the genre
- Western swing evolves, due to the work of Bob Wills and Milton Brown
1933 in music
- Music of Cuba
- Ignacio Pineiro's Echale Salsita is the first use of salsa to describe Cuban dance music, of which rumba is beginning to gain international renown
- Music of Mexico
- The campaign of Lázaro Cárdenas helps move mariachi into the mainstream; he will be the first to officially subsidize the music
- Music of South Africa
- Eric Gallo's Brunswick Gramophone House makes its first masters, beginning the South African music industry
1934 in music
- Music of Haiti
- American troops leave Haiti, and groups like Les Jazz des Jeunes begin their rise to fame incorporated Western, African, native and American music
- Music of Nigeria
- The first recordings of palm-wine music begin to produce stars like Ojoge Daniel and Speedy Araba
- Music of Trinidad and Tobago
- Atilla the Hun and Roaring Lion sign to major record labels in New York City; they will become the first stars of calypso music
- Music of Tunisia
- The Rashidiyya Orchestra is founded, moving towards a standardized, orchestral style of malouf music
- Music of the United States
- John and Alan Lomax discover a precursor to rock and roll while recording gospel music in the South
- Bill Monroe's "Kentucky Waltz" begins popularizing bluegrass music
- Cuban rumba begins to enter the American mainstream
1935 in music
- Music of South Africa
- Guitars, banjos and concertinas are added to marabi music
- Music of the United States
- The unprecedented success of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller and Count Basie marks the peak of mainstream commercial emergence of swing, jazz and big band music
- Woody Guthrie writes The Dust Bowl Ballads, becoming the first in the American singer-songwriter tradition
1936 in music
- Music of Trinidad and Tobago
- An orchestra of frying pans, oil drums and dustbin lids recalls earlier styles of makeshift percussion music and eventually evolve into steel pan music
- Music of the United States
- Artists like Robert Johnson, Charley Patton and Son House innovate what comes to be known as Delta blues
- Close harmony brother duets are popular; these include the Delmore Brothers and Blue Sky Boys
- Roy Acuff leads the developing Nashville Sound in country music
1937 in music
- Music of the United States
- The Golden Gate Quartet reaches the peak of their popularity; they are the first major gospel group
- Big bands dominate American popular music
1938 in music
- International trends
- Sergei Eisenstein's film Alexander Nevsky features extended scenes of battles choreographed to a score by Sergei Prokofiev, setting new standards for the use of music as a part of cinema
- Music of Cuba
- Desi Arnaz popularizes the conga throughout Cuba, Europe and the United States
- Music of the United States
- Slovenian-American Frankie Yankovich begins his recording career; he will become the king of polka for most of the 20th century
- Boogie woogie breaks into the mainstream with the success of Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson
- Bill Monroe forms the Blue Grass Boys, creating a fusion of Appalachian folk music with blues, polka and other genres from around the world
- O. C. Cash founds SPEBSQSA, the barbershop harmony society; women's society follows shortly; barbershop quartets become a popular music staple, particularly in radio commercials
1939 in music
- International trends
- Kabylian-Algerian immigrants to Paris such as Cheikh Nourredin and Slimane Azem incorporate instruments like violins and banjos to Kabylian folk music
- The Zulu choral song "Mbube" becomes a major hit in Swaziland, and comes to the attention of Alan Lomax and Pete Seeger; reworked, the song is the basis for later major hits for The Weavers ("Wimoweh") and The Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight")
"Mbube" was recorded in 1939 and became a major hit in Swaziland. The song was in a traditional Zulu choral style, which soon came to the attention of American musicologist Alan Lomax, who brought to the song to folk singer Pete Seeger, then of The Weavers. They made the song a Top 15 American hit in 1952 (as "Wimoweh"), though creater Solomon Linda was not credited; later, the Kingston Trio released a cover of it [2] (http://www.sigidiart.com/Docs/Behind%20The%20Hits%20The%20Lion%20Sleeps%20Tonight.htm). Later still, The Tokens turned the song into "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and it became a #1 American hit.
- Music of Colombia
- Cumbia begins to move from rural areas to the urban middle-class, displacing musica de la interior as the most popular form of music in Colombia
- Music of Cuba
- Music of Portugal
- Amália Rodrigues' career begins; she becomes the most influential Portuguese musician of the 20th century
- Music of Puerto Rico
- Plena becomes popular among the island's jibaro artists; this movement is spearheaded by Rafael Hernandez (El Canario)
- Music of South Africa
- Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds' "Mbube" is probably the first African recording to sell more than 100,000 copies
- Music of the United States
- Dixieland jazz becomes a mainstream commercial force with the success of Lu Watters & the Yerba Buena Jazz Band